Extremely lonely. Cold. Empty. Terrifying. That’s how 37-year-old Victoria describes her experiences with homelessness.
“I remember feeling like, ‘How am I going to get out of this situation? How did I get here?’” she recalls. “It’s a huge mess to clean, and it feels hopeless.”
But homelessness was only one piece of Victoria’s struggle. She also faced drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness and trauma from her childhood.
“I was sexually abused from three to nine years old. That played a big role in my thinking, my self-esteem. I started finding outlets,” she says, looking back. “I struggled with really extreme depression.”
Everything came to a head when Victoria lost custody of her oldest daughter, Vallie. That painful season included a relapse and, later, pregnancy.
“That’s when I knew I had to try to change my life,” she says. Thankfully, Victoria’s family support team at Health & Human Services pointed her toward Hope Ministries Center for Women and Children. That same team had worked with another Hope Center resident who had recently regained custody of her sons. “That was all I needed to hear,” Victoria remembers.
Victoria came to Hope Center in June 2025 and joined our Christ-centered life recovery program, which includes classes and guidance from case managers. “We’ve been able to target and heal the roots of my trauma. I feel like a brand new person.”
Victoria
“Since the day I got here, that heaviness of depression has lifted. I found God. I found a community. I feel safe and secure, loved and heard.”
Victoria celebrated one year of sobriety on May 1! “The longest I’ve ever been sober before was about four months,” she says. And she’s thriving in an environment of stability.
But her two best milestones include her daughters! Victoria regained custody of Vallie two days before Thanksgiving. And then in December, she gave birth to Valicity. Victoria’s main dream for the future is being the mom her girls need.
“I want to have my own place, pay my own bills, but most importantly, I want to be a good mom. I want to be the mom that spends a lot of time with them, makes them dinner, reads bedtime stories—just simple things,” she says. “That’s my idea of a happy life.”
Victoria says she’s grateful to be building a relationship with God and appreciates the support of her parents and her new church community. And she’s grateful to ministry partners like you.
“It blows my mind that there’s such good people out there. We’re all really thankful,” she says. “They’ve provided me somewhere I can feel safe and secure. They’ve given my daughters and me the gift of being successful in life.”
